Should you always outsource production to another island?

[kgmi]

I am currently at the furthest point I have ever been in my run with 100k POP and production chains are hard to keep track of for me at this point.

I actually like the quick statistic screen check of my demands when I am producing everything on my main island.

Now I have been reading that people outsource all their industry eventually, I have been considering trying it too but the amount of raw resources I already seems impossible to keep up with because my main island is {ofc CF} with all the mines I have also boosted so i dont have to import 100t / min demand using the habour.

I am a bit scared at this point to completely screw me over if try to move my industry at this point, I am easily managing space {not too hard on CF} and pollution, so I am considering to just keep going like this unless it will eventually screw me over in the long run.

I have already set up many trade unions on CF so I was wondering if I should just keep playing or if I have to invest a lot of time setting up everything some other place ?

[kmmacman]

This is a decision I think we all come to at some point. I,of course, start my main island with farms and iron plants and all other industries on it but then it just started to make more sense to move everything off and onto other "specialty" islands. I have my industry on one, beer and schnapps with a boost to produce rum from both on another, a champagne island and a bread island and so on. Eventually my main Old World island and my Crown Falls island will have only population and attractive items on them, I keep the mines going even after I start trading at my docklands harbor.
Now I have to admit I play without any other AI characters so all the islands are available to me which makes it easier to make separate islands for different goods.
If you want to explore this method use the blue print mode to layout the outsource island and then when your ready put the original factories or plants on PAUSE until your new island has caught up with production then phase them out slowly.
Go slow and keep an eye on your income. I set up trade routes to pick up one good at one island an deliver to 4 or 5 other islands in a loop, makes it a little easier to keep track of all the necessary trade ships. I also name my islands based on the good being produced, Industry Isle, Dynamite Bay (with Advances Weapons production), Bread Land, Beer Isle, Etc.
Give it a try. Have fun.

[freelancer909]

I have 3 AI players friendly so I dont have a lot of islands. But I just Keep Crown Falls with No production at all. Just peps. I use the work piers to spread the workers. I hate the old world so jut keep a few large cities there try not to import from the old world to keep things a bit simpler.

[Tankfriend]

When going for a peak efficiency build, I definitely try to outsource all production to few industrial islands where all the boosts possible can be used for maximum effect.
Most games, I just outsource primarily the polluting industry, though.

[Hundinger]

I outsource most, but not all of them. I'm not an ultra efficiency builder and I like my cities interesting and somewhat realistic looking. There aren't any big cities in the world without industry parks. So I keep at least some of my heavy industry and build worker homes near them.

[olympe]

Depends. Personally, I prefer to keep small stuff at home - like work clothes production or sausage and soap production (despite the attractivity malus). The further you advance, though, the more likely it is you'll have to outsource your production.

[samuel.wirzen]

Hey ive currently been playing this game for 209 hours now so, i will give you a tips. at some point you want to just move all farmers from your main island to other small islands so you dont have to think about schnapps, work clothes and fish anymore. same with workers, sausages, bread and beer. beer generates much money but cost many workforce and maintenance costs. I would tips you to first set up and second island with many workers and upgrade all farmers and workers on your main island to artisans so you dont have to worry for small supplys like schnapps. Artisans need sausages and bread yes, but you can just buy sausages from Bente Jorgensen and bread from her to. But i recommend you to have two islands for workers and farmers and one main island for engineers and artisans. when you come to the new world, take all islnds that are left immediately, you will need them later on in the game for coffe and cotton production. When you also come to the new world u should build up as mnay cities u can, in the new world everything costs less than in the old world so u will need to have many residents and make a lot of profit there. I currently make about 8200$ from my main island in the new world with about 2300 residents. it makes me do it like this. if my old world collapse i can still make profit from the new world. I have 5 other islands in the new world too with about 2 000 in profit. So i make about 18 000 just in the new world. Dont make too much money in the new world tho. Dont place too many obreros on your coffe islnds in the new world tho. Engineers will ned coffe later and the production speed of coffe is very slow. However i recommend you to focus on the new world and make much profit there and then you change the old world :)

[pemmons1]

It seems to me that the best plan is for your first island to be heavily industrial and keep your second large island clean for a profitable visitors' dock, zoo, museum, investors, world's fair etc. This is natural because the first island you settle will be given a few oil springs, the only ones you will get in the old world. Ideally the first island should have several iron mines and potato, grain, and hops fertility. The second should be nearby and the two have potential harbor shores facing each other to facilitate transfer of goods by ships. You can go for quite awhile with a single iron mine, but then suddenly even four don't seem to be enough. Mines themselves hurt attractiveness negligibly, so don't' be afraid to build them on an attractive island, but transporting the ore in large quantities to an industrial island can be a bit of a nuisance in peacetime and a concern in wartime.

Quite a few industries are also innocuous-- just beware of those dealing with pigs, steel, or brass. I don't worry about the pig-related industries on the clean island, as long as they are meant only to supply the local population without producing surplus for sale or trade. With silos and eventual electrification you won't need many. IMHO It seems safest to make each populated island as self-sufficient as the constraints of its resources and the pollution problem allow. Unnecessary specialization is unnecessary vulnerability.

[freelancer909]

I would just add to Pemmons good comments. Try to have an island located next to the prison. I always sell spuds and soap for good money. But more important I pick up a lot of Trade Center and City Hall help. One of the best is the costume designer that allow wool instead of cloth for furs. I spend most of my influence points on trade centers and fill them with powerfull boost. But them on an industry island and they can create a lot of wealth.

[Rewardian]

If you're at 100k population, I imagine that money is of little concern (or you're almost there). Overproduction is extremely painful in the early game, but later on, for various reasons, we need stockpiles of resources. What I mean is that, however you organize the transition, bring the newer island (be it population or production) online in tandem with your local production, and phase out the local unnecessary chain at your leisure.

Assuming you have Land of Lions, research the specialists you'll need to replicate your local production; you'll probably be re-using the local specialists in some other location later on in your session anyway (if not immediately in a less optimal manner).

But also I think it's important to reflect on why you're wanting to separate production chains. If it's for attractiveness, space for population, not enough resources on source island, etc. Don't feel like you need to move your production chains outwards from, say CF, unless you (in your goals) really need to. The only real constraint is the one in your head, but when you gotta move, you gotta move. And once money doesn't matter, the only cost of these little efficiency games is construction materials (i.e. time).

[pemmons1]

Originally posted by freelancer909:

Try to have an island located next to the prison. I always sell spuds and soap for good money.

Indeed. That's my third settled island, and in my fav map it is close to the first two. A cluster of tallow and soap factories around a trade union with appropriate items installed, and pig farms around the edges, can produce enough soap to keep two schooners busy selling it to the prison, which is not far away. There's enough left over to fill my flagship rather often, equipped with trade-enhancing items, plying the same route manually and buying items when there. I'm soon rolling in money, so even the most expensive items are affordable. Once these plants are electrified, the surplus becomes really impressive and can easily supply the beautiful capital island in addition if desired. It's one place where specialization does pay off.

I pick up a lot of Trade Center and City Hall help. One of the best is the costume designer that allow wool instead of cloth for furs. I spend most of my influence points on trade centers and fill them with powerfull boost. Put them on an industry island and they can create a lot of wealth.

Very tempting, although it's easy to overdo this early in the game and run out of influence for ships and settling more islands. I'm especially fond of the items that reduce workforce, to get the most out of small uninhabited islands. This doesn't always make enough sense for me to recommend it, but it's just a challenge that I enjoy.

[kgmi]

I see, thanks for these tips guys, 1 question i still have tho.
How do you manage the insane need for raw materials later on ?
Logs, Coal , Ore etc.
CF is the only island that actually has some mining potential output.
DO you dedicate trade unions just to buff mines or do you consider that wasted space because they have to be put in sub optimal positions ?

[Tankfriend]

I just get my hands on every island I can and then ship the raw materials (or processed materials I can make on-site) to wherever I need them.
The Docklands are also completely overpowered for late-game supply issues, since they can literally exchange almost anything for almost anything else at whatever amount you can handle.

[olympe]

Originally posted by kgmi:

I see, thanks for these tips guys, 1 question i still have tho.
How do you manage the insane need for raw materials later on ?
Logs, Coal , Ore etc.
CF is the only island that actually has some mining potential output.
DO you dedicate trade unions just to buff mines or do you consider that wasted space because they have to be put in sub optimal positions ?

One word: Docklands.
If you don't have docklands, then you depend heavily on items and electricity to increase your mines' production (bizarro-balloono-magn8 +1 iron ore per production cycle, Jörg von Malching +70% production, Feras +50% production, simmon's electrifying elevator +40% production, electricity +100% production - together 360% production (100% base), plus another 360% for iron production), reduce the needed input (Mrs. Mayson makes canneries use flour instead of iron ore, dario replaces iron with iron ore as input for certain factories, making the need for coal obsolte...) or reduce consumption. Don't forget to look at zoological item sets and their effects, either!

[Gate Keeper]

I've only gotten as far as just unlocking engineers. But I've looked over the game, items, then did some super quick lookthrough some endgame builds. Usually german peeps min maxing to infinity and beyond. But what I saw is this:

- islands with almost no workers on them, full of "0 workforce" items. Everything is done automagically by geenies, I guess.
- 500% and above production
- Upwards of 80 tons per minute of any one particualr product
- Just tons and tons of ships with loading speed and movement items.

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But even before I was that, it became SUPER clear that you are meant to move most things off island. Because a certain population type does a certain type of work. Like, super early game. Tier 1&2. To make work clothes, you need for every one farm with a silo, about 120 farmers. That 10 to 12 buildings producing NO MONEY, compared to the same space, ocupied by engineers who produce a ♥♥♥♥ ton of money.

So it's all about space. You want to move your less skilled work off island. You want to move your big industry off island. But you don't necessarily want to move EVERYTHING off island.

Case in point. It's silly to make unhappy workers on some far flung island that produces wheat and / or flour. Just bring the wheat home to your money island, and a really small group of workers can just bake it.

Same for africa. Don't need to make elders on some unimportant farm island, just so they can boil some crabs. No, just ship everything to your money island and boil the crabs locally.

But things that are absolutely horrible, like steelworks. Like foundries. Those have to be moved. Later in the game, you'll get items that reduce polution and do magic things with those foundries. That's not a sign to move them back. No, it just means your backwatter islands become less of a backwatter.

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So TL;DR - if it requires just a handful of skilled labour and does not polute, keep it on the money island. If it requires a huge number of mid-level people, move it off island. If it requires anything more than 20 farmers, move it off island. Even fishing ports will disapear at some point, and you can completely remove farmers from important islands.

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Another tip. If you make an island that has low density housing but high density production. Aka, overalls, clothes. A peasant house has 10 pepps, one sweat-shop requires 50. For those, give the peasants lifestyle goods. It increases housing density.

In late game you'll want 0 workforce items.

[kgmi]

Whats the minimum amount of storage i need to always have resources left in stock for the 20 min cycle Tobias needs to re-supply me through docklands? I have been using the Docklands extensively but eventually i feel like i am not importing the goods i should and importing the ones i should make instead.

I find Canned goods very annoying to make, sometimes i cant decide if i should import goulash or straight up Canned Goods